Rex Reed, film critic for the New York Observer, called Melissa McCarthy a "female hippo" in his review of "Identity Thief."

Wow. Rex Reed is kind of like the Donald Trump of movie critics.

Not only did he give the film a bad review, but he seemed a bit obsessed with McCarthy's weight, also referring to the "Bridesmaids" star as "tractor-sized," and a "humongous creep."

He also wrote "Melissa McCarthy is a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success,"

He should be careful. I imagine that "tractor-sized" woman could beat the stuffing out of him.

"Identity Theft" also stars Jason Bateman.

Not surprisingly, Reed quickly drew scorn for his remarks. The Observer review's comment section was filled with comments blasting Reed's review. And on Twitter, actors Chad Lowe and Marlee Matin, writer and film critic Richard Roeper and writer Patricia Cornwall -- among others -- also ripped Reed's comments, with many noting that he has a history of such remarks.

SWIFT, UNDERWOOD HATE EACH OTHER: Taylor Swift will likely avoid Carrie Underwood at the Grammys as if her rival's last name was Mayer.

Or Gyllenhaal ... or Kennedy ... or Lautner ... or Jonas ... or Styles ... or ...

You get the idea.

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A source told Us Weekly the singers are bitter enemies who plan to avoid each other at Sunday's Grammy Awards. According to the insider, Grammy execs were ordered to keep Swift, 23, and Underwood, 29, "from crossing paths" at the Feb. 10 show "since they hate each other."

Actually, it would be a much better show if they did just the opposite.

A friend of Swift's told the Us, "Taylor feels Carrie is always rude to her, so she steers clear of her."

A Grammy rep said "No requests were received from either artist."

The feud could have intensified at the Country Music Association Awards in November, when co-hosts Underwood and Brad Paisley mocked Swift's relationship with Conor Kennedy.

"The greatest trade of the year had to be the Kennedy family. They somehow traded Arnold Schwarzenegger for Taylor Swift," Paisley said about Swift dating the 65-year-old bodybuilder's nephew through marriage. "I mean, what they got for that . . ."

Underwood interrupted him, pointing out that the pair had just broken up.

"What? Why don't I ever hear about these things? I'm the last one to know," Paisley said. "Are they ever gonna get back together?"

Swift is set to open the Grammys show at L.A.'s Staples Center Sunday.

JOHN MAYER COMES CLEAR -- "I WAS A JERK": John Mayer is a jerk. He even said so.

In a new interview with CBS "Sunday Morning" airing this weekend, the 35-year-old musician admits that he "was just a jerk" in the past and that "it's very liberating when you finally realize it's impossible to make everyone like you," according to the Huffington Post.

The singer-songwriter, who's said he's "quite happy" with current girlfriend Katy Perry, has a history of putting his foot in his mouth, especially when it comes to his sex life. He famously compared ex-girlfriend Jessica Simpson to "sexual napalm," slammed Taylor Swift for her song "Dear John," allegedly about their relationship, and once dropped the N-word in trying to explain his relationship to the black music community.

"I was really caught off-guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I'd already been dressed down," he told Rolling Stone about Swift in June 2012. "I mean, how would you feel if, at the lowest you've ever been, someone kicked you even lower?"

Well, at least she does the same thing to all her other ex-boyfriends.

Mayer said he's come to peace about his public perception. "I wanted everybody to like me. I thought I was one shuck and jive away in every direction."

The interview runs at 9 a.m. on CBS Sunday Morning.

JOHN NOBLE COULD BE CAST AS "STAR WARS" BAD GUY: Because facing three whole years without the "Star Wars" franchise re-launching suddenly sounds like a frighteningly long time, the Internet will explode unless we can keep pulling barely-founded stories about who's going to do what in the new films.

Thursday, a website called io9 -- which might be the name of a robot -- said that John Noble, who plays Walter Bishop on "Fringe," is being considered to be the big villain in "Star Wars: Episode VII." J.J. Abrams is directing the next "Star Wars," and he also created "Fringe," so there's already a connection.

Noble also played Denethor, the crazy Steward of Gondor in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. So he already has plenty of experience dealing with sci-fi nerds accosting him on the street and asking him to talk in character.

McCREADY'S FATHER HAD HER COMMITTED: Mindy McCready's father was the one who had the country star committed this week, as the singer was allegedly abusing alcohol and not taking adequate care of her kids since her boyfriend David Wilson died of an apparent suicide last month.

E! News obtained the petition filed Thursday by Tim McCready that resulted in the singer being placed in a treatment center for up to three weeks of mental health and substance abuse evaluations.

"Since boyfriend (David Wilson) shot himself she has been in bed for 3 wks," wrote the elder McCready. "Sleeps all day. Drinks all night and is taking Rx drugs. Not bathing or even helping take care of her 2 children."

The Department of Human Services removed McCready's sons, 6-year-old Zander and 9-month-old Zayne, from her Arkansas home on Thursday.

"Screams about everything," Tim McCready also wrote. "Trying to hit father. Is not making any sense of an conversations with anyone. Very verbally abusive to Zander (6) son."

The judge wrote "there is ... clear and convincing evidence that Respondent is in imminent danger of harm to herself or others, suicidal or gravely disabled."

According to E! News, the filing notes McCready previously received treatment at Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute in Nashville.

The commitment comes a week after McCready's ex-husband Billy McKnight filed several motions in family court expressing concern over McCready's parental fitness and requesting full custody of their son Zander.

FEB 9 IN HISTORY

Saturday is Feb. 9, the 40th day of 2013. There are 325 days left in the year.

1773: The ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison, was born in Charles City County, Va.

1825: The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

1861: Jefferson Davis was elected provisional president of the Confederate States of America at a congress held in Montgomery, Ala.

1870: The U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

1933: The Oxford Union Society at Oxford University debated, then endorsed, 275-153, a motion "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country," a stand widely denounced by Britons.

1942: Daylight-saving "War Time" went into effect in the United States, with clocks turned one hour forward.

1943: The World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.

1950: In a speech in Wheeling, W.Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.

1963: The Boeing 727 went on its first-ever flight as it took off from Renton, Wash.

1964: The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," broadcast from New York on CBS.

1971: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in California's San Fernando Valley claimed 65 lives. The crew of Apollo 14 returned to Earth after man's third landing on the moon.

1983: In a dramatic reversal from fifty years earlier (see above), the Oxford Union rejected, 416-187, a motion "that this House would not fight for Queen and Country."

2002: Britain's Princess Margaret, the high-spirited and unconventional sister of Queen Elizabeth II, died in London at age 71.

2003: President George W. Bush told congressional Republicans at a policy conference in West Virginia that Iraq had fooled the world for more than a decade about its banned weapons and the United Nations was now facing "a moment of truth" in disarming Saddam Hussein. The U.S. Navy ended its last bombing exercises on Puerto Rico's Vieques (vee-AY'-kehs) Island. The West beat the East 155-145 in the first double overtime game in NBA All-Star history.

2008: Democrat Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state; Republican Mike Huckabee outpolled John McCain in the Kansas caucuses and Louisiana primary, while McCain won the Washington caucuses. A suicide bomber blasted a political gathering in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 27 people. Space shuttle Atlantis, carrying a European-built science lab, docked with the international space station.

2012: President Barack Obama freed 10 states from some of the toughest requirements of the No Child Left Behind education law. The Pentagon formally opened thousands of jobs to women in units that were closer to the front lines than ever before. Former skiing champion Jill Kinmont Boothe, who became a painter and a teacher after she was paralyzed during a race and was the subject of a book and two Hollywood films, died in Carson City, Nev., at age 75.